Xbox's Mike Ybarra Wants To Improve Game Library, Social Elements, And More

The Xbox One's operating system has gone through several transformations since it debuted in 2013, and with the living nature of video game consoles today, it would be a shock if we're currently looking at Xbox One's final form. We asked Mike Ybarra, director of programming at Xbox, to name the biggest improvement he'd like to make to the Xbox One user interface to hopefully get a glimpse into what could be to come for Microsoft's latest console.

Ybarra's response was fast and enthusiastic. "We have our list of areas," he says. "Like Collection. I’d love to redesign Collection because since people are buying more digital now, the Collection should be something people can go to and be like, ‘Wow, I can see my whole library of games. I see everything and it’s really easy to get to!’ Today, it isn’t. So, I want to go fix Collection. There are some social elements we want to improve. We’ve always listened to what the fans are saying. One thing about the gaming industry is you have very passionate fans about what they want, so everybody understands what our fans want and we’re prioritizing those. I would expect us to continue to invest both in the Xbox app design and the console-based OS design to do more things like New Xbox Experience and really kind of bring them what they want through big catalyst changes and smaller changes.”

Our TakeIt's always nice to get such candid insight from the people that control how gamers are able to consume their games. With game collections growing larger and larger each month, an overhaul to how the Xbox One and Windows 10 approaches your collection would be very welcomed.

Yeah, the two rows of game tiles isn't cutting it, just give options to organization like you can on Windows. If I could make my games a list instead of tiles it'd be easier and quicker to find what I wanted to play.

I suggested awhile back along with many others to create filter displays for your game collection app. Sort by shooters, RPgs, etc. Sort by Indie and AAA titles and the like. That's what I want. Or Maybe instead of two rows, create a full page with multiple rows and columns. I absolutely hate having to scroll left and right so much through all my games.

The pin system is perfect in my opinion, other than one thing. Each time I buy a new game I pin it to my home page. This has created a nice looking block of games that I own at the bottom. Problem is I've maxed out the amount of apps that can be pinned, so now I have to go to the games and apps page to see everything I own. I would be fine if they just increase that cap. The tiles are pleasing to the eye and easy to get to right there at the bottom. The only thing easier would be to start the game with my voice through Kinect.